Page 25 of Claimed By Ruin

Before, there had been a deadbolt. Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Levi never locked it. But when they remodeled, one of the things she insisted on was changing all the doorknobs.

She wanted something pretty.

Something that matched.

Something that I could easily pick.

I slid the screwdriver into the narrow hole, hoping it wasn’t too thick.

Fuck.

If it was an eighth of a millimeter thinner, maybe a little bit less, and it would have slid right in. I muttered a curse under my breath and stared at the lock.

I tilted the screwdriver so that the thin flat angle was inside. And then slowly, millimeter by millimeter, I twisted.

Heard the satisfying pop.

If I had better knees, I would have sprung up in celebration. As it was, I put a hand down and pushed myself up from the floor.

Screwdriver still gripped tight, the yellow and black ridged handle pressing into my palm, I ran outside.

SEVEN

Jack

The threat in front of me was manageable.

The one behind me, though.

“Asia! What the fuck are you doing?”

She deigned to spare a moment to look in my direction. It took me a second to realize she was looking at Miles. “Miles, you know what to do.”

The kid nodded, and then ran.

The knife in his hand was large, much too big for him, but he held it like he had been born to it.

“They got the smokehouse, Ms. Newman!” he yelled as his strides cut through the grass.

“Fuck,” she muttered.

But she didn’t miss a step. Instead she ran faster towards one of the zombies. She swung and took one down while Miles ran to the opposite side of the farm to attack those there.

“Jack, go clear out the smokehouse,” she said.

I was torn, but ran to the smokehouse, dispatching three zombies along the way.

When I reached the smokehouse, I peeked into the door, disgusted by what I saw inside.

Three gluttonous zombies pulling at the animal carcasses that had been hung to dry.

Of all the things I’d seen, this was the most sickening.

The meat that looked to be enough to keep the farm fed for a while was irretrievably tainted.

I stabbed the first zombie, plunging my knife into its neck while its fingers were still buried in the carcass.

As it fell, it pulled strips of meat off, leaving the ribs exposed.